In Sleep Perchance to Dream
by Ferwyn
Summary: Jennifer Keller never really paid much attention to her dreams until the night she dreamt she was shot in the stomach. SGA/Firefly crossover
1. Chapter 1

SGA/Firefly crossover (Disclaimer – I don't own any of this, blah, blah, blah – I just like to play.) Spoilers for SGA: Season 4 up to Midway and for all of Firefly.

In Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Chapter 1

Jennifer Keller never really paid much attention to her dreams until the night she dreamt she was shot in the stomach. Mostly her dreams were vague images and scenes that she barely recalled when she woke up. Oh sure, there'd been a couple that she'd remembered – the ones where she woke up thinking "what the hell."

She sat up in bed with a strangled scream, her arms crossed protectively across her middle. Her tank top and shorts were soaked with sweat and her hair was stringy and damp as it swung forward from her shivering shoulders. Her heart was pounding madly and her breath came in labored gasps that echoed loudly in the room. It was a full minute before her dark blue eyes were able to focus on the end of her bed. When her breath came a little easier she almost frantically pulled up her top to examine her smooth abdomen. A pale, trembling hand felt across the area right above her belly button, stopping on the left side, right below her ribs.

Jennifer let her breath out in a rush as expert fingers probed the area, but found no evidence of even scar tissue. She pulled her shirt back down and pushed the cool sheet and blanket back. It was a moment after she swung her legs over and sat on the edge of the bed before she could muster the strength to stand. As she pushed herself up and moved to the bathroom on shaky limbs, images of the dream came back to her – the previous intensity muted, but still clear.

While she didn't remember much of the beginning, she did remember standing in a large open area, watching from afar an intense argument. A man held a gun and was threatening two others. On the periphery moved a couple of women and an older man in a black top with a chaplain's collar. Suddenly the gun was pointed at her and a violent force pushed her against the wall behind her. Jennifer leaned over the bathroom sink, dragging in deep mouthfuls of air as she recalled the sensation of losing feeling in her legs and the suddenly numb area between her top and bottom. All of a sudden she was on her back, a firebrand burning along her side, with several people standing over her.

A woman with long dark hair was snapping at the man standing near her knees who was shouting at a younger man with bloody hands. Was that her blood? Vaguely, Jennifer recalled the gist of the argument. The man who was shouting at the man with blood on his hands wanted him to save her. The other one wouldn't until the shouter did something else. The woman told the shouter to do what the other asked. The next dream scene she was being lifted and the firebrand in her side became a flow of bright hot lava lapping up into her breastbone and down her legs. That was when Jennifer had wakened with a start.

Deep, even breaths helped Jennifer control the nausea that threatened. She sat on the cool toilet seat and leaned forward to rest her forehead on her knees. The dream faded slowly as she concentrated on not thinking, only breathing. After a while she was able to stand up, push her hair away from her face and splash cold water on her face.

As she got ready for the day, one more thought occurred to her. In the dream, even though she knew she was Dr. Jennifer Keller, Chief Medical Officer stationed on Atlantis, the man who had shouted on her behalf had called her by another name. He had shouted it as he'd rushed up to her prone body. "Kaylee," he'd called her.

OOOooooOOO

"You okay?" Ronon asked her, his amber eyes narrowed in concern.

Jennifer was sitting across from him in the airy mess hall. Rodney and Teyla had just left, and she had yet to see John. Bright sunlight careened through the windows and doors, and a soft spring breeze blew in from the open balcony. She looked up from her contemplation of granola sprinkled yogurt with a side of fruit, and regarded him tiredly.

With an attempted half-smile she brushed his question away. "Just had a bad night, is all. Didn't sleep well." She shrugged and he peered at her a moment more before addressing his own plate of food piled high with scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon.

He shoveled the food down, and she was momentarily distracted by the way the muscles in his arm nearly rippled as he brought the food up to his mouth. She blinked and looked away. "Do you…" she started. His intense eyes came back to her. "Have you ever had a dream, or rather nightmare, in which you were shot?"

A pause then his dark eyebrows lifted in query and he quickly swallowed the half chewed food in his mouth. "Yeah, why?"

She shrugged and felt uncomfortable under the sudden concern in his probing gaze. She stood abruptly and with shaking hands gathered her untouched bowl of yogurt and fruit. She felt his eyes on her as she hurried off to the counter and asked the person on duty to put her food in the large fridge for later.

Jennifer kept her head down as she left the mess at a near run. She almost expected Ronon to come after her, but he didn't and she made it through the infirmary and into her office without anyone stopping her. Once there she immersed herself in work, filling delinquent reports and catching up on other paperwork. She had a couple of granola bars in her desk and munched on those when her stomach made itself known. The day-shift nurses didn't bother her until early afternoon when the doctor on call went to lunch just before Major Lorne came in with one of his teammates in urgent need of stitches.

"How did this happen?" she asked as she snapped rubber gloves on and reached out an arm for the suture cart nearby. The marine in front of her grimaced, whether from the question or the disinfectant she swabbed over the gash in his forehead, she couldn't tell.

Major Lorne, standing near the bed, rubbed a hand across his lips, trying unsuccessfully to hide a grin. "Uh, funny thing, that. What was it, Evans, a tree branch?" He held back a laugh at the glare Evans shot him. "Yeah, the branch rose up and got him smack dab in the face right as the priestess we were escorting walked by."

Jennifer had to smile at the abashed look on Evan's face. She continued to apply the stitches, glad of the distraction. "So, a pretty girl, huh?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively before turning to the Major. "We'll be done here shortly, Major Lorne."

"Thanks, doc." He nodded and left the infirmary after instructing his team member to check in with him before going to his quarters. She finished up and let the young marine go with instructions to come back in a week.

She was straightening up the cart when a hand touched her shoulder gently and a deep voice said, "Hey."

She swung around, the bandages in her hand flying loose and scattering all around. "Ronon! You scared the bejesus out of me." She put a hand to her pounding heart.

"Sorry, didn't mean to." He bent and retrieved a couple of bandages within reach. She knelt beside him and gathered up the rest. They stood up together, facing each other. She stared at his chest for a moment, already embarrassed enough because of the way she'd left the mess hall earlier.

An opportunity to turn away presented itself when he held out the bandages he'd picked up. She grabbed them and whirled to face the cart. Ronon must not have like talking to her back because he walked around her. There was a moment of silence.

"Look, Ronon…" she began at the same time he said, "Hey, doc…"

They both paused. The ridiculousness of it struck her, and she met his eyes with a slight smile.

"I'm sorry, Ronon. I shouldn't have run out on you earlier." She sighed and fiddled with the closed suture case sitting on top of the cart. "I just was…well, I just…"

He reached out and put a hand over hers. She stilled instantly and her eyes rose slowly to his. "Don't worry. I'm just making sure you're okay." He squeezed gently and let go.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." She smiled again and brightened. "It was just a silly dream I had. Really don't even remember it now."

His eyebrow quirked questioningly, and she held her breath. There really was no fooling this guy. But he let it go anyway. "Okay."

"Okay," she responded, enunciating each syllable, and pushed the cart back to its proper place. Now she didn't have anything to occupy her hands. "So, I never did get a chance to thank you for helping me the other day." He'd helped her get the infirmary back together after their little enforced stay a couple days earlier.

Ronon shrugged, dreds resettling over his broad shoulders. "Happy to help." He suddenly grinned at her. "'Sides, I was the one who suggested the oxygen tanks, and set them up, so partly my fault."

"No, no, we did what had to." She recalled the conversation afterwards, and felt her face heat up. They hadn't had a chance to continue the moment, nor talk about it.

He must have recalled it too, as his eyes and face grew serious. He stepped closer to her and her breath came just little faster. She felt the warmth of his body, close enough to easily reach out and touch. All that golden skin. She licked her lips nervously as her stomach suddenly erupted in butterflies. It'd been a while, a long while, since she felt like this.

Ronon's eyes shifted to the left, focusing on someone else right before a soft voice interrupted them.

"Excuse me. Dr. Keller?"

Jennifer whirled around hoping her face wasn't beet red. Her ears still felt warm. Teyla stood there, supporting a weak-looking Dr. Kusanagi.

"I am sorry for interrupting, but Dr. Kusanagi was injured while we were sparring," Teyla explained. "She tripped and her head hit the floor pretty hard." She hoisted the fainting scientist into a more secure grip, trying to move an elbow off her protruding belly.

Instantly, Jennifer was back in professional mode.

OOOooooOOO

That night Jennifer dreamed again, but it was so vague she barely remembered it in the morning. A hazy feeling of urgency and restrained violence coupled with movement was really all she recalled upon waking, and even that faded as she began her day.

Ronon joined her in the mess hall for breakfast shortly after she sat down. Before she knew it, his whole team had drifted in and was sitting around the table, conversation flying. Even Teyla joined them, although she wasn't an active member for the nonce. Every once in a while Ronon met her eyes and smiled, and grinning outright when Rodney and John got into an argument over what movie was better, _A New Hope_ or _Empire Strikes Back_. It was obviously a well-tread argument on both sides, and it ended when Atlantis's top team was paged to the control tower.

Jennifer finished her breakfast, yogurt and fruit again. She'd had the kitchen throw out the food from yesterday, as she'd been meaning to get to it yesterday and didn't. Immersed in work, both paper and hands-on, up to her elbows, she didn't notice the passage of time. It was dark out when she sat back from her desk to stretch. She looked up to see Ronon coming toward her office.

"Hey," she greeted as she got up and met him at the door. Her eyes roved over his body, searching clinically for blood or contusions. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, no problems. McKay found a hole in space right above us, and freaked out." Ronon was grinning like loon. "Sheppard had to slap him a couple of times to calm him down."

"He slapped him?" she replied, laughing a little. "Wait, a hole in space?"

"Carter says there's nothing to worry about. She called it a 'sub-space anomaly' and told McKay to come see you for a sedative." He shrugged and smirked. "I'm your advance warning." Then, in a brighter voice, "So, dinner?"

"I should probably be here to check out Dr. McKay." She said it almost hesitantly – dinner with the handsome man in front of her was far, far preferable to Rodney freaking out in her infirmary. But duty came first. Her nurses on duty would kill her for abandoning them to his psychotic and sometimes downright vicious mercies. He was no-ones preferred patient.

"Really?" Ronon just looked at her.

"Really! Ronon, stop!" she added as he continued to look questionably at her. "Look, my staff would turn into a lynch mob the second they think I've gone and left them to deal with McKay." She rolled her eyes. "But, it shouldn't take long. Say fifteen minutes, and I'll meet you in the mess?"

"Fifteen minutes." The look he gave her intimated that he would come looking for her at the stroke of fifteen minutes and one second.

Ronon passed Sheppard escorting a protesting McKay into the room.

"…don't know what Carter was thinking. Last thing I need is for Keller to practice her voodoo magic on me."

"Shut-up, Rodney, and get in there."

A red-faced Dr. McKay was propelled backwards into the room. John followed nonchalantly.

As Jennifer cleared her throat, Rodney whirled around. He started backing up as she stalked him with a syringe held in rubber-clad hands.

"Dr. McKay, Colonel Carter tells me you're over-reacting again." She smiled calmly. "You know Carson warned you several times about your hypertension and dangerously high blood pressure."

"Yes, yes, all taken with a grain of salt. Most of that is normal for me." Rodney shot an appealing look at John…

…who simply ignored the scientist while smiling back at Jennifer. "He did get a bit riled up earlier." He hitched one side of his mouth up along with a single shoulder shrug. "All over a little anomaly. Which," and he raised his voice to cover Rodney's protest, "Carter assured him was of little consequence and that the other astrophysicists would keep an eye on it."

"Little?" Rodney exploded.

"In the grand scope of things?" John rolled his eyes. "Yes, Rodney, little."

"I'll have you know that the word 'little' doesn't even begin to…Ow, owowowow!" He twisted and glared at Jennifer as she finally was able to plunge the needle in, not even bothering with a vein. A glute was good enough. He rubbed the affected area and scowled. "That wasn't even ethical, getting behind me like that." He paused to draw breath, and offer a low, parting shot. "Carson would never have lowered himself to that." And head high, he stormed out of the infirmary.

McKay!" John shouted, appalled that even Rodney, master of the obvious and insulting, would stoop that low. He'd turned to watch the livid scientist storm out of the room then turned to Jennifer, apology written all over his face. "I'm sorry, doc. Sometimes he just…you know."

She nodded and quirked her lips. "I know. Believe me, by now I try not to take it to heart."

"Yeah, but that was low, even for Rodney."

"Don't worry. You can, however, let him know that next time he's here…" She paused dramatically. "I'll let Nurse Higgins at him."

John was startled into a short bark of laughter. Nurse Higgins was the complete antithesis of Dr. Keller. Twice as large with a personality to match her poker face, compassion was a four letter word to her. Higgins was the threat Jennifer used to keep the Marines (and some scientists) in line.

"Well, I'd better make sure Rodney gets to his quarters before collapsing," John said as he moved to the entrance. "See ya, doc."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning when Jennifer woke, she remembered most of the dream she'd just been in. She was on a ship that had rescued a lone survivor of another ship. She apparently was the engineer, and was faced with the issue of disentangling a mess of wires attached to the bottom of the hull. She recalled the intensity and concentration that was needed, as one false move would blast them all to oblivion.

Them? She frowned in thought as she lay on her bed, looking up at the fluted ceiling above her. Yes, there were several others in her dream as well. Ones she'd dreamt of before. The man who'd shouted in the dream where she'd been shot was the captain of the vessel. The other man, the one who'd had blood on his hands, was a doctor, like her. And the lady, the one dressed so nicely was a…Jennifer actually wasn't sure exactly what her role was.

She sighed and rolled to her side, the dream fading a bit. No use worrying over it, she thought, as she got ready for the day. Although she wondered if there was so much untangling to do on Atlantis, that her mind had sublimated the stress.

"Ach, I need a psychologist to figure that one out," she said aloud. "Or a psychic." Then she grinned at her image in the mirror. "Talking to yourself again, Jenn?"

She ran into Ronon right outside her quarters.

"Oh, hey, Ronon. Good morning." Good God, she thought, breathless again. At this rate he was going to think she was out of shape.

"So, wanna spar?"

"What? Oh, ah, sure." She gestured down the hall. "Let me get some breakfast first."

"Okay." He fell into step with her down the hall. "So, sleep better last night?"

"Yes, I did, thank you."

When she didn't add anything to that dry statement, he slid a look at her. She saw it and ignored it. They reached the messhall shortly after, and the door opened onto the grating voice of Dr. McKay expounding on the sub-space anomaly above them.

"…and its not like it's just going to go away. See, Radek. I told you." Rodney jabbed a finger into the screen of the datapad he was shoving in poor Dr. Zelenka's face. "It's getting bigger. Sam can't bury her head in the sand on this one."

Zelenka replied, but Jennifer and Ronon were too far away to hear. They shared an amused glance and Ronon jerked his head in the direction of the sunny balcony. Way away from the verbose scientist. Jennifer nodded her agreement and they got in line for food.

After breakfast, they went to the gym and sparred for a while. After her experience with Teyla on New Athos and the Bolo Kai, she'd approached Ronon for some self-defense instruction per Teyla's advice. After the first few sessions, her muscles seemed to catch up to her mind, and the lessons turned into regular practice. Ronon was a surprisingly patient and gentle teacher, going easy on her the first couple of times, then stepping up the pace and level of difficulty when she caught on.

Today she seemed to be all uncoordinated arms and legs, very little focus. After the fifth time her back hit the mat, she lay there breathing hard and trying not to wince at the bruises already forming. Sweat ran down the sides of her face, pooling in her ears. She blinked slowly up at the ceiling, willing away the urge to groan.

Ronon's face came into her field of vision. "You want to stop?"

She nodded, grimacing as even that pulled on a sore muscle in her neck. "I'm sorry, Ronon. Not focusing today." She lifted an arm in a mute appeal for help up. "Maybe tomorrow."

He grinned and grabbed her hand, lifting her to her feet in a smooth motion.

Though not pain free. "Or maybe the day after that," she groaned. She put a hand to her side. Yeah, ibuprofen was the first thing she was getting. Then a heating pad. Normally she didn't get this banged up in their sessions, but it was her own fault that she got in the way of a few good swings. Ones she normally could've avoided.

The door to the gymn whished open, revealing Colonel Sheppard.

He leaned in, smiling in greeting at Jennifer then addressing Ronon. "Hey, Rodney and I are going to M4R-567, the one with the two princesses. Carter wants us to re-affirm the trade agreement we have with them." He paused, his hazel eyes glancing to Jennifer then back. "You wanna come?"

"I told Teyla I'd take her to the mainland this afternoon. She has some herbs she wants to get." He twirled the stick in his hand. "Two princesses, huh? Hot?"

John nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, sure you don't want to come? I'm sure Teyla would understand."

Ronon must have realized that Jennifer was giving him a "just like a man" look as he glanced over at her, looked away, and cleared his throat. "Nah, I'm good."

"Okay, gotta run. See ya, doc." And he was gone.

The atmosphere in the gymn was suddenly not as comfortable as it had been. Ronon cleared his throat again, keeping his face down, not meeting her eyes.

"Oh-kay." Jennifer smiled to herself. Guys just being guys, not anything she hadn't come across before. So there was no reason for Ronon to be all acting the way he was. He didn't look up, just kept poking his toe with the bantos rod. "Well, I'm going to go take a hot shower, take some painkillers," and she hissed as she rotated her shoulder, "and since it's my day off, take a nap." She walked over to the holder for the rods and put hers in. She turned back to face him with hands on her hips. "What about you? When are you taking Teyla to the mainland?"

Ronon still had his head tilted down, but peeked a glance at her through the dreds falling on either side of his face. When her own face still showed curiosity, he smiled shyly and finally looked her in the eye. Was that a blush she saw riding his cheeks? They were indeed a little warmer looking than usual.

"Look, I've hung out with many guys before, lots of college guys. I take everything I hear with a grain of salt." She held her thumb and forefinger far apart. "A large…grain of salt."

He chuckled and put his own sticks away. "Come on, I'll walk you to your quarters."

She grinned at that, once again at ease with the tall man.

OOOooooOOO

Jennifer dreamt she was at a fancy dress party, men and women dressed in bright fluttery clothes swirling around her like pieces of confetti. A hovering chandelier moved in and out of itself in time to the lilting music, and a large buffet table groaning with all kinds of delicacies beckoned.

She waltzed in on the arm of a handsome man named Malcom Reynolds, captain of the ship Serenity. She was dressed in a pink, frilly concoction that brushed her ankles just so, causing a smile to hover about her lips. A strawberry beckoned from the buffet, and as she stood nibbling on it a couple of snooty rich girls came up to her and made fun of her dress. The strawberry lost its appeal until an older gentleman came and shooed the others off.

After that it was a whirlwind of dances and talking and eating and rich dandies, young and old hanging on her every word about engines and ships. She was having a grand time until the man she'd come with, Mal, decked another gentleman. It appeared to be over a lovely young woman dressed in understated gleaming satin. Then she recognized the woman as being on the same ship as her. A name came to her mind. Inara, a beautiful Companion in demand at nearly every port.

Suddenly she was being escorted back to Serenity by a group of thugs lead by a squeedgy man with the dubious name of Badger. He spoke with a thick Irish accent, and the rest of the crew seemed to know exactly who he was. The next few scenes were a blur, but it all came back into focus when Captain Reynolds came back to the ship, dripping blood, but alive. The beautiful woman with long dark hair, Inara, followed him back. Next thing she knew she was in a room that was obviously hers, the pink filly dress hung up above her, and dance music singing through a speaker in the corner.

Jennifer opened her eyes slowly as the dream let her go gently. The waltz was still lilting through her head, making her fingers twitch in time. She turned her head, realizing she was lying on her back on top of the covers. Light streamed through the window, about mid-afternoon. She'd slept a lot longer than she intended, but didn't feel rested. It was strange, she thought as she rolled over to the edge of the bed and sat up. When she was in these dreams and someone was hurt, there was absolutely no response from the medical doctor side of her. It was like she'd never been to medical school. Her dream personality was not afraid of blood or squeamish, but didn't know how to fix it. Give her an engine that didn't work, or a lot of spare parts and a wrench, and she'd be happy.

As the shadows lengthened, Jennifer pulled out her laptop and sat down at the desk in front of the window. Her room had a wonderful view of the East pier, the usual landing platform for either the Daedalus or the Appollo. Neither was here at the moment, Colonel Ellis having just left for Earth, and Colonel Caldwell on transport duty for the SGC. The ocean was calm today, the breeze coming through the open window a balm against her warm skin.

After the computer powered up, she wrote out a list of the dreams she remembered, most especially the most recent ones. Her goal was to see what they had in common and what her subconscious was trying to tell her.

All right, first dream. Shot in the stomach. Okay, hmmm, maybe I feel like after treating so many wounds like that, I should feel what they feel?? She grimaced and backspaced what she'd just written. That's just not right, she thought. Leave that one blank for now.

Next one. I dreamt I was engineer on a space ship. That was easy – escapism. A hundred and eighty degrees from where reality is. Then I had to untangle a booby trap. One wrong move and we all get it. Hmmm, untangling the stress in my daily living with out losing it. She sat back in her chair and thought about that for a moment. Okay, that actually made some sort of sense. With everything going on here in Atlantis, everybody was under a lot of stress. Maybe it was time for more than a one day break here and there.

All right, the dream I just woke up from. Dancing in a pretty dress, handsome men paying me court. Again – escapism, the desire for girly things, parties and dancing that she missed out on growing up. Or just the need for some good ol' attention from some of the men on base. She let out a chuckle. She had more than enough of that with testosterone-hyped marines and geeky scientists everywhere. Although, the attention Ronon had been paying her lately was starting to be really nice. She looked forward to seeing him each day. Speaking of whom…

She was gazing out the window as she thought and tracked a jumper inbound to Atlantis. She smiled as she thought it just might be him and Teyla coming back from the mainland. Suddenly the city-wide communications activated.

"Dr. Keller to the infirmary, please. Dr. Keller to the infirmary."

She recognized the calm tones of Chuck. She grabbed her earpiece to call the control tower and find out what was going on.

"Major Lorne is inbound with Teyla. He says she's having…uh, pains."

"I'll be there shortly." She threw on her uniform and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. As she did this she ran through all the possible causes for Teyla's present discomfort. At this stage it could be Braxton-Hicks, among with a host of other things such as pinched nerves, bladder infection, stones, or even premature labor. At that thought she hurried faster through the corridors to the closest transporter. Teyla was nowhere near far enough along for the baby to survive if it was born now.

At the infirmary she saw Ronon hovering over the pregnant Athosian. She was already laying on a bed in one of the more private areas. She kept trying to get up and Ronon kept pushing her back down. The look on her face did not bode well for the Satedan if he pushed her down one more time. Jennifer bit back a smile as she grabbed a stethoscope and gloves.

"Dr. Keller, please tell Ronon that I am fine. I am not feeling any more pain." She pushed away the arm holding her down and sat up. "I feel fine," she assured Jennifer earnestly.

"Well, let's just take a look, okay?" Jennifer grabbed the scope from around her neck while speaking to Ronon. "Where's Major Lorne? He radioed in the call, right?"

"Yeah, he flew us out to the mainland, but as soon as we got back, Colonel Carter called him." He shrugged. "Sheppard and McKay aren't back yet."

"You're not worried?" she asked at his lack of anxiety.

"It's Sheppard and McKay."

"Right. Well, I'll need to examine her and you can come back in about half an hour, okay?" She softened the demand for him to leave with a smile.

He actually smiled back, said "Okay" in his gruff voice and left.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Jennifer was busy. Too busy to have a moment to with Ronon, or even a moment to herself really. Everything had been fine with Teyla. The baby was growing quickly but normally, the active little boy kicking up a storm every evening, she was told.

John and Rodney got back okay, save for being dirty and tired. Apparently they'd been shanghaied into chaperoning a girl on a pilgrimage and were attacked by a group of Genii soldiers. A couple days later Ronon gleefully showed her a picture of a painting commissioned by the newly elected queen of that planet to commemorate the saving of her life. It appeared as if Rodney were saving the day (and the new queen) by directing mini-drones. John was merely peeking out from behind the other two.

She had a good laugh at that. Rodney happened to come into the infirmary as they were still looking at the picture, and Ronon quickly whipped it behind his back and tried to put on a nonchalant expression. Jennifer couldn't quite hide the smile on her own face.

"Oh, what now?" Rodney stopped when he saw them and tilted his head to try and see what Ronon was holding behind his back. "I swear if that's that painting you're showing her, I'll…I'll…"

Apparently he couldn't think of anything suitable, and finished by just sputtering.

"What do you want, McKay?"

He held out his left hand. "I got a pretty bad cut trying to put a rusted piece of paneling back together. I think it might need stitches. Definitely going to need a lot of disinfectant." As he spoke he sat himself on the closest bed and set down his datapad next to him.

Jennifer mashed her lips together to keep from laughing out loud. She couldn't even see any blood on his hand. Then she remembered her threat. "I'm kind of busy right now, Rodney. Stay there and I'll have Nurse Higgins come and clean it up for you."

The look of horror on his face was totally worth it. He actually grew somewhat pale before he snatched up his computer as if for protection from Dragon Higs (one of their nicknames for her) and scrambled off the bed.

"Uh, hey, you know what – it's feeling much better now. Oh look, the bleeding's stopped." He backed out of the infirmary quickly. "Besides I've got a couple things I remembered have to be done." And he was gone…

…leaving Jennifer and Ronon nearly rolling in laughter on the floor.

She tried to stifle her laughter with a hand. "Oh, that was great. I've waited so long to have Rodney cowed by something."

"He did look pretty scared," Ronon agreed. "Who's Nurse Higgins?"

She looked at him, surprised. "You don't know who Higgins is?" Her voice almost squeaked. "She's my defense against importuning scientists and marines." When he still looked blank. "They all call her the 'Dragon Nurse?'"

"I always come in when you're on duty." He shrugged, a roguish grin lighting his face. "'Sides, all your nurses like me."

She swatted him playfully on the arm. "Oh, they do, do they? I'll have to talk to them about that."

They went to dinner together and later, just outside her door, he leaned in and kissed her. It was sweet and gentle, but with a dangerously passionate undertone. She could fall oh so hard for this one. Before it could get out of hand she ended the kiss and after saying a breathless goodnight she retreated into her room.

She fell in bed happy that night, filled with joy and with a smile on her face.

OOOooooOOO

She woke up the next day quite the opposite. She'd had another one of those dreams. It was getting so that when she was barely asleep, she'd end up back in this little dream world of hers. Quite annoying really. She'd had another two dreams over the previous few days and had learned something new each time about her new dream…companions.

For instance the doctor, Simon, was caring for his sister, River. They were on the run from the current political regime after Simon had broken her out of a government-run medical facility. Apparently, the government had experimented on her and affected her mind. She always appeared almost frail and waif-like, fragile. Jennifer's dream-self was attracted to Simon, though in the hard light of day that was completely unreasonable as, hello – look at Ronon.

Who would want anyone else after being seriously attracted to Ronon? Although, one of the other guys on Serenity, Jayne, might do in a pinch. He was tall, manly, well…oh, stop, she told herself as she pushed back the covers. Jayne was stupid and a bit of a lout. Ronon was a gentleman. Well, so far as she'd seen anyway.

In fact, the dream she'd just woken up from had been mainly about Jayne Cobb. The crew had landed on a moon that produced high-end ceramics. It turned out not long into their survey that Jayne had been there before and in trying to escape with stolen money, he'd had to dump the lot. By doing that, he'd become the hero of the muddy, stinky village of indentured workers. It was quite hilarious up until his previous partner had come back and cut on Simon before turning his attention to Jayne.

There had been bloodshed, but it all worked out in the end, and the captain, Mal, and his first mate, Zoe, got what they came for. There was a little snafu as the port had put a land lock on the ship in a mix up, but the pilot, Wash (who was, it seemed, married or attached in some way to Zoe) got it squared away before Mal could get too anxious.

Before Jennifer could dwell on it further, a knock sounded at her door. She threw back the covers and pulled on a robe, wondering who it could be this early in the morning. She opened it to reveal Ronon. She stared in almost horror at the oddly fitting black t-shirt he had on. It looked as though the neck and sleeves had been hacked off and not hemmed. His normal accouterments such as his leather gauntlets were missing and without them he looked almost naked.

"Ronon? What's going on?" She sleepily rubbed her eyes, wondering briefly if she was still dreaming.

"Hey, Sheppard's father died. He's going to Earth for a couple of weeks. Carter said I could go with him."

"What? His dad died? Is John okay?" Now she was awake.

Ronon shrugged. "You know Sheppard. He doesn't say much." He scratched his neck self-consciously. "I was there when Carter told him, but had to get to the gymn for a sparring session. Rodney came up to me later."

"What did Rodney want?" She sighed in exasperation. "He wasn't his usual insensitive self, was he?"

A shake of his head set the lengths of hair swaying. "In fact, he was upset that he had to go to the planet with the kids, and asked me to go with Sheppard. He wanted to make sure he wasn't going back to Earth alone."

That took her a moment to process. "Wow, that's downright…ah, caring for McKay."

"I know." He leaned in abruptly and kissed her hard and fast. "See ya in a couple weeks."

And he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next couple of weeks went by quickly. Rodney came back from his mission covered in mud and paint and various lengths of straw were tied into his short hair. Zelenka just happened to be in the gateroom with a camera when they returned. He gleefully snapped several photos before scrambling out of a livid Rodney's way. Less than an hour later the snapshots were making the rounds through the base.

Jennifer was giving a report about a respiratory ailment going through the residents of M1X-345 to Colonel Carter when the pictures hit Sam's email. Halfway through an explanation of why she couldn't determine the cause of this ailment yet, Sam started laughing. Hard.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer." Sam had to wipe away tears before continuing. "Have you seen Rodney lately?"

"No, why?" Now she was frowning in confusion, completely lost and wondering what was with the abrupt change in topic.

"Come look." Sam beckoned her to come behind the desk as she tilted the computer screen for better viewing.

Jennifer walked over and stared for a good thirty seconds before busting out laughing. It was priceless. Mud and paint aside, the look on McKay's face alone was a mixture of virulent irritation and long-suffering fortitude.

She went back to her office with a smile on her face only to encounter a by now mud, paint, and straw free Rodney. He was sitting on a bed having blood drawn, and Jennifer quickly slipped into her office before the laughter burst out. When she came up for air and looked out through the window all the nurses were shooting concerned looks at her, as well as some of the patients. Luckily, Rodney was already gone.

OOOooooOOO

That night she dreamed again.

Over the course of the last week and a half, she'd had more dreams about the same people. They were beginning to be more and more familiar, and each time she dreamed she learned something new about her dream companions. She wasn't even upset anymore, in fact looked forward to the dreams as an escape from a stressful reality.

Of course, the bad guys in her dreams were just as terrifying, if not more so, than the Wraith. A constant threat wherever the ship Serenity was, was a group of 'people' referred to as Reavers. They were vicious, nasty, beastial cannibals that raped and pillaged and killed their prey. She hadn't seen one in her dreams yet, but her dream self was terrified of them nonetheless.

The current dream was about another terror – this time a human man named Adelaid Niska. He was a cold and ruthless businessman who hired big thugs to do his killing. He did enjoy a little post-prandial torture on the side, though, which was probably why he snatched at the opportunity and nabbed both the captain, Mal, and their pilot, Wash in an ambush. That and the fact that a couple months before, they'd decided not to go through with a job Mr. Niska had hired them for. Even though Mal had given back the funds, there was still a…ah, slight grudge on Mr. Niska's part.

When the crew realized what had happened, Zoe organized a plan to get them both back before it was too late. She asked everyone to ante up any money they still had from their last job. The look in her eye as she gathered the funds boded ill for anyone who got in her way, and Jennifer was actually a little scared of her. The fear changed when she left to a fear that they would lose Mal, Wash, _and_ Zoe…leaving Jayne in command.

When she returned, holding up a half-dead Wash, the relief mixed with anxiety was palpable. Zoe, Wash, and Jayne put together a plan to rescue Mal that excluded the others. The preacher, Shepherd Book, got Jennifer and Simon together and they raided the armory, intending to help the other three. There was little argument, and they all waited as the ship was aimed in the right direction, engines fired then shut down to drift in under the radar.

Once on the space station, fierce resistance met their challenge. Jennifer was scared to her very bones – even her real self would be scared stiff in a situation like this. Eventually it was just Simon and herself guarding the entrance to the ship, the gun shaking in her inexperienced grip. Her real self wanted to scream at her dream self to remember the small arms training she'd gotten from Ronon and John. Then Simon left to take out a security guard sneaking up behind the others – leaving Jennifer alone.

For a minute there was silence, then one by one three men poked their heads up and crept out intending to secure the apparently deserted ship. Jennifer raised the gun, wavering in her hand, and tried to take aim. Gunfire forced her behind the bulkhead, the gun lying where she dropped it. Suddenly River, Simon's little sister, was beside her, a long fingered hand going for the side arm. Bam, bam, bam…with her eyes closed, she'd taken out the guards, no hesitation.

Jennifer stared at River with an emotion she couldn't identify. The other girl was smiling, calmly holding the smoking gun at her side.

And that's when she woke up. The bell at her door was buzzing away like mad, and her radio was beeping for attention. She sat up, muzzily blinking sleep out of her eyes and trying to focus. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table then did a double take. Oh crap, it was way past when she was supposed to be in the infirmary not to mention her wake up time. The door continued to buzz and a voice from the other side was calling her name. It sounded like Teyla.

She slid off the bed and waved open the door.

It was Teyla, looking at her worriedly. "Dr. Keller, are you all right? When you didn't show up for our weekly appointment, I became worried."

"I'm so sorry, Teyla. I totally overslept." Jennifer ran a hand through her loose hair then over her eyes. "Um, let me get dressed and I'll meet you in the infirmary in ten minutes."

Teyla held out a hand to forestall her. "Do not worry, Dr. Rhodes already examined me." She paused and peered at Jennifer. "Are you sure you are all right? You look pale and ill."

"Yes, um just had a bad night, is all," she mumbled, not looking the perceptive Athosian in the eye.

Teyla nodded acceptance and smiled. "Well then, I will leave you to get ready for the day." She bowed her head slightly and left gracefully.

Jennifer leaned her head against the doorframe. Being wakened so abruptly had left her feeling tired and out of sorts, so it didn't help when she heard Teyla say to someone else down the hall, "Yes, she is awake now, and says she is all right, but she does not look well." There was no response, so Jennifer assumed she was talking on the radio. Wishing the doors could slam, she waved the door shut almost viciously and fell back in bed.

As her radio beeped again, she groaned and turned over to answer it.

OOOooooOOO

Two days later Ronon and John returned from Earth and as both of them were a little still a little sore and bruised from being beat up by a Replicator, she got the whole story when Carter ordered them into the infirmary for a checkup.

"You actually took on a Replicator in hand to hand combat?" She stared at the two men in absolute shock. They had slunk into the infirmary and Ronon was standing behind John, slouching down as if to hide. The bruises on the sides of John's neck were just now fading to yellow on the edges, highlighting the fingerprints and Ronon's knee was still twice its normal size. "You know, I shouldn't even be surprised by now, the way you two encourage each other." She sighed and snapped on the rubber gloves she'd picked up in preparation for someone else's exam. They both winced at the sound and she had to suppress a grin. They were such little boys sometimes. "Have a seat and one of the nurses will be by shortly."

Twenty minutes later, Colonel Carter came in to her office. "How are John and Ronon?"

"Oh, they'll be fine. There's still some residual bruising around Colonel Sheppard's larynx and esophagus, and Ronon's going to need about a week off that knee, but other than that…" She shrugged. "They always manage to scrape by without major injuries. I have no idea how they do it."

"Know what you mean." Sam smiled in accord. "Listen, a request came through from a planet asking for aid. They say they've been battling a series of respiratory complaints along with frequent earth tremors. I'd like you and Rodney to have a look, see what we can do to help these folks out."

Jennifer nodded. "Sure, no problem." She paused, thinking. "I hope it's not connected to that other planet with the respiratory ailment – that still has me stumped. And concerned. I've had reports that several people have died already."

"That's why we need to check this one out."

An hour later, John escorted Jennifer and Rodney to the planet. It was a beautiful place, sunny and warm, with spring well on its way into summer. There was a subtle scent on the air, moist soil and growing things tainted with something else, something she couldn't identify. She couldn't resist teasing Rodney when he brought up the subject of the sub-space anomaly still in the vacuum above Atlantis.

"…and even though Radek and Sam insist that there is no danger, it is still growing at an alarmingly fast, well, fast for…you know, space. Anyway, at an alarmingly fast rate." His hand made a chopping motion.

"But didn't you just say that there's nothing coming through, no radiation, no other particles, nothing?" John pulled a lollipop out of his vest and unwound the wrapper. He sucked on it innocently when Rodney turned to glare at him. "Besides, I talked to Radek. The thing hasn't even doubled its original size yet." He nonchalantly shrugged with one shoulder.

"Rodney, it's just a hole in space, nothing more." Jennifer tried to be innocently reassuring, and winked at John when Rodney started to sputter in absolute frustration.

The tirade was cut short when they experienced the first tremor. She managed to keep her feet, but it was a near thing, and dust rose in eddying swirls around them making it hard to breathe.

John had dropped his sucker in an effort to stay on his feet. "Crap, my lollipop." He stared in disgust at the now dirt-encrusted candy. Before he could get another one out, their hosts arrived to greet them.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Three hours later, they trooped back to Atlantis. Jennifer and Rodney were dirty, tired and ready for a shower. John appeared as fresh as he had when he'd left the base and sucked merrily on another lollipop as they trudged up the stairs. Once in Carter's office, the argument between her and Rodney ceased, and the relief was palpable when Sam agreed to go back to the planet with them.

In the hour before the three of them were to go back, Jennifer made for the infirmary and her office to pick up a couple more items for her medical kit. She pulled up short when she saw Ronon on a bed with his injured leg propped up on a pillow with icepacks all around the tightly wrapped knee.

"So, what happened? Did the swelling not go down like it should have? Or fluid build up?" she asked quietly, coming up to the foot of the bed. He had better not have been on it.

Ronon looked down, a sheepish expression on his face as he fiddled with the edge of the sheet. "I, uh…" He cleared his throat and looked up at her through his eyelashes. "I was in the gym using one of the punching bags and stepped wrong."

"What are you doing to me, Ronon?" She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Did I not tell you to take it easy for at least a week?" She realized her voice was going high and squeaky, but at the moment she was so frustrated there was nothing she could do about it. She also realized she sounded like a mother hen. "You're just not going to be happy until you permanently maim or kill yourself, are you?"

His eyes narrowed and his lips mashed together. She could see he was getting angry, and she was glad. She was angry, too, but at the moment it was the last thing she needed.

She took a deep breath and threw back her shoulders. "Look, I understand your need to be doing something, especially with that IOA interview coming up," ah, he didn't know she knew that, "but I am also your doctor and when I say 'take it easy,' I'm telling you for a very good reason." She looked down at her clenched fists. "Um, when I get back maybe we should talk."

"What about?" His eyes were still narrowed.

"Well, um, I guess…us." I am so not good at this, she thought. The knot in her belly twisted a little tighter when he didn't respond right away. Before the silence became too uncomfortable, the loudspeaker activated, paging her and Rodney to the gateroom. "I gotta go. Uh, I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, okay." He was back to looking down and twisting the sheet in his clenched fist.

She left quickly, trying to put the issue from her mind. Rodney helped distract her by being his normal, loquacious self on the way back to the village from the gate. Of course, his verbosity came to an end when he plunged through the grass into the Genii mining facility followed by Sam and herself shortly after. But the reprieve didn't last long. He was a veritable fount of ideas for getting them out.

During their incarceration, so to speak, subsequent attempts to rescue themselves, and Rodney's heroic save with the rope, Jennifer came to an understanding about him, and a deeper awareness and respect of what made him tick. It shocked her to realize that she actually liked the man, despite his arrogance and other…er, habits. When they were back in Atlantis, she watched him out of the corner of her eye as his hands were salved and bandaged. Her own sprained wrist was an annoyance – it would keep her off active duty for a couple of days.

She was genuinely surprised when he got all flustered after she asked him out for a drink. Her own motives were purely selfish. Number one, she figured it was always a good idea to get on the good side of the scientist that saved the city on a pretty regular basis and also could keep the infirmary running in case of an energy crisis. And number two - she wanted Ronon to know he wasn't the only one in her book.

OOOooooOOO

That night she was so exhausted, she didn't think she would dream, but again, almost as soon as she closed her eyes she was back in her other reality. A former acquaintance of the captain's presented the crew with a lucrative opportunity to snatch an antique from a highly secured private residence. During the, ah…"negotiations," Inara stormed out, incensed with Capt Reynolds for even considering the idea. The end result of hours of planning was that the captain and Saffron (aka Yolanda, aka Bridgette) would go in, take the gun, and on their way out drop it in the trash.

While Mal and YoSafBrig entered the residence, the rest of the crew, including Jennifer, were involved with reprogramming the garbage bin to be dropped in the desert rather than the default planetary recycling center. When she found out she had to be outside, standing on the hull of Serenity, while doing this – in the cold and ferocious wind – she had a momentary qualm. She wasn't cut out to do this, she was an engineer not a programmer. Zoe took her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.

"Kaylee, you can do this. I know you can." She smiled crookedly. "'Sides, Jayne will be right there next to you and we'll all be right down at the bottom of the ladder."

"Yeah, that gives me lots of confidence," she replied sarcastically. Regardless, she bundled herself up, strapped into the safety harness and climbed the ladder after Jayne.

She finished reprogramming the board and gave it to Jayne to replace in its slot. The wind was screaming right into her face; the uncomfortable closeness of the trash bin did nothing to block it. Poor Wash kept trying to keep the ship close enough even though she was sure proximity alarms were blaring away at him. She yelled a warning to Jayne as his hand came perilously close to the exposed current of the terminal. He turned to look at her and at that moment a combination of the wind and a sway upward of the ship brought his exposed skin in contact with it. He was flung backward a good three feet and his harness twanged with the stress. Fortunately the re-programmed card was partially already in the slot.

Simon and Zoe helped get him back inside and the doctor took charge of his unconscious body. Zoe went back up top with her and held her legs while she stretched to shove the card all the way in. The other woman yelled a warning to her and she turned to see the pick-up drone honing in on their position. With an extra stretch and a prayer she got the card all the way in and dropped immediately to the hull. Not even a second after she'd done so, the trash pick-up was slotting into place and reversing, carrying the bin and its precious cargo off to the desert.

As soon as she and Zoe had clambered back into the ship, Wash took them off in the opposite direction the drone had gone. A few minutes later they were in orbit, hoping to avoid any planetary security. They hadn't heard anything from Mal, but Inara called them soon after saying she'd retrieved the package. Relief flew though the crew, all except Jayne, who'd been told by Simon that he couldn't move for a few days as he'd hurt his back too bad.

Jennifer/Kaylee snickered when she heard that. She also heard from Simon later that upon leaving the infirmary he'd told Jayne that despite everything he'd done to turn the fugitive pair in – he was safe under Simon's care as a doctor. River had delivered a more concise warning. "…and, I can kill you with my brain."

They set down once more in the desert to pick up a stranded and stark naked Mal. Kaylee kept her eyes carefully on his face, refusing to look anywhere else. A grin played about her face as she imagined just how Saffron had gotten him to undress.

The grin was still on her lips as she surfaced to a bright and already late morning. For a moment she wondered where she was, as her bunk on Serenity had no windows and space had even less light. When she did realize that she was Jennifer and she was on Atlantis, she groaned and rolled over. She really needed to see a professional about these dreams. They were creeping insidiously into her real life and that was certainly not normal.

For instance, John and Rodney had both looked at her oddly the evening before when she'd used the words "gorram it" in the same sentence as "it's all shiny, Cap'n." She hid her face in her pillow, as it flamed red again just remembering. She also recalled there'd been a certain twang in her voice that hadn't been there before.

OOOooooOOO

The new psychologist, a Dr. Jessica Solomon, welcomed Jennifer warmly into her office. It hadn't changed much since Dr. Heightmeyer had died.

"So, what can I help you with, Dr. Keller?" Dr. Solomon indicated a seat opposite her.

"Please, call me Jennifer." She hovered uncertainly, still not sure whether she should be here or not.

The other woman smiled up at her. "Well then Jennifer, please," she indicated the comfy chair, "have a seat and make yourself comfortable. Call me Jessica."

Jennifer nodded her head spastically and almost fell onto the edge of the seat. The last time she was in a psychologist's office was during the pre-screening process at Cheyenne Mountain. It wasn't a comfortable experience then, either.

When she'd been silent for over a minute, Jessica leaned forward. "Is everything ok? You look a little pale."

"Yeah, um – just not sure I should be here, that's all."

An encouraging grin pulled up the corners of Jessica's lips. "No-one is ever really comfortable seeing a psychologist. Well, let me amend that." She rolled her eyes. "No-one except Rodney McKay. I swear - that man is in here every single week, sometimes more than once."

A chuckle escaped Jennifer's throat and she rolled her eyes in turn. "I know what you mean. I see him a lot, too. Probably more than you do. I believe the term we're looking for is hypochondriac."

Jessica laughed outright at that, prompting an answering laugh from Jennifer. After that, she relaxed and poured the entire story out, starting with the first dream of being shot in the stomach. Bits of her own daily stress made its way into the outpouring, an effect of the relief of being able to pour out her feelings and emotions to someone who was genuinely listening. Jessica just let her talk, not interrupting, not even taking notes. She simply nodded in encouragement every now and again.

At the end of an hour, her throat was dry and she was wrung out emotionally, but she felt better than she had in a while. Dr. Solomon told her take the next couple of days off (she had to anyway, because of her wrist) and to try not to think of work.

"I know being here, that's a bit difficult." They shared a wry grin for the dangerous vagarities of the Pegasus Galaxy. "I will inform Colonel Carter of your restrictions."

Jennifer stood. "I will try. Maybe I'll get Rodney to fly me out to the mainland for a little R 'n R."

"Good. I have a feeling the dreams are simply a way for your mind to escape the stresses we are all under. Jot them down if you think of it. Writing should help you relieve some anxiety also."

"Thank you."

On her way back to her quarters she stopped by the infirmary to let her doctors and nurses know she was off duty for the next seventy-two hours. She returned to her quarters via the mess hall for a late lunch.

As she was threading her way through the mostly empty tables she spotted Ronon at a table on the balcony. She veered toward it, but stopped when he got up and left. She didn't know if he'd seen her or not, but was hurt nonetheless. When tears welled up unexpectedly, she attributed it to her vulnerable emotional state and left the mess at a near run, head down.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N – For the sake of continuity I am ignoring the fact that Col. Carter broke her leg in "Trio." I also don't know the length of time between most episodes, but based upon the fact that she was walking around sans cast in "Midway" it is probably a lot longer than I am writing here. _

Chapter 6

Later that evening she sat at the desk in her room and wrote down the dream episode she'd just awoken from. It had been mercifully short so she'd awakened from her nap much less groggy than she had been.

The gist of it was that Zoe and Mal had received a coffin through inter-system mail that contained the dead body of a former comrade-in-arms named Tracey. Or what they thought was a dead body. Turned out the man had simply drugged himself to avoid capture while he carried lab-grown organs within his body to a buyer. Unfortunately, there were thugs after him, and when they caught up with Serenity there was a chase followed by a hostage situation…involving her.

When Mal said he was going to turn him over to the guys chasing them, Tracey pulled out a gun and used her to try and get off the ship. He got shot in the process and when it came to a stand off with the captain she felt the warm stickiness seeping into the back of her shirt. She was scared stiff, watching out of the corner of her eye as Jayne and Zoe worked around behind them.

When the moment came and he was distracted, she closed her eyes and tensed her shoulders. The shot didn't take long in coming, and she was left standing as he went down, gun still clenched in his bloody fist. It was rather a sad, anticlimactic ending when he died, asking unto the end for the crew to take his body to his parents. Kaylee held onto the recording he'd left, clutching it in her hand as Mal and Zoe carried the body-bagged body down the ramp into the cold snow and laid him at the feet of his family. Simon actually put an arm around her and she leaned her head gratefully on his shoulder, not even wondering what had prompted such an act of familiarity.

Jennifer pushed back from the desk, rotating her shoulder and neck to ease the tightness. The sun had set, leaving a beautiful pink and orange glow on the horizon that faded even as she watched. A low rumble in her stomach pushed her to her feet and out to the door to get some food.

After filling her tray, she looked for a place to sit. She spotted Teyla pulling out a chair at an empty table and sitting down, and hurried over. The heavily pregnant Athosian smiled welcomingly when Jennifer set down her tray and pulled out a chair.

"Hello, Dr. Keller. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm…" She was going to say "fine," but she knew the woman across from her was perceptive, and would call her on it. So she shrugged and continued, "…eh, I could be better. How are you?"

"I am well, a little upset at some of the people in charge on your world, but that will pass." She took a bite of her meal. "Eventually."

"Oh? What happened?" Suddenly a memory clicked. "You had your I.O.A. interview, didn't you?"

Teyla nodded, the look on her face suggesting she would rather have done without. "The new man, a Mr. Coolidge, was most condescending to me. I had to severely quell the urge to hit him…several times."

Jennifer laughed quietly at that. "I have only met Mr. Woolsey, but I can imagine. Speaking of which, how on earth is Ronon going to deal with him and the pointed questions sure to be asked?"

A forceful sigh gusted forth. "Yes, that could be problematic. I believe Colonel Carter has requested a close friend of hers to come from Earth and coach Ronon on how to deal with the I.O.A."

"Ah, that'll be interesting."

"Interesting does not begin to cover it, I fear."

OOOooooOOO

The very next morning she was introduced to Sam's friend. When she saw the large dark-skinned man walking beside the Colonel, she knew instantly who it was. She had never met Teal'c before, but the members and missions (not to mention other antics) of SG-1 were legendary. The former Jaffa was serene and graceful, similar to Ronon in many respects, but a quiet calmness and patience told of his greater age. As they walked away, Jennifer couldn't help but compare the two warriors. Briefly she considered who might win in a showdown between the two. Little did she know that she would soon get the chance to find out.

A few hours later she was wandering down to the gym complex to get a bit of exercise when she heard excited shouts and yelling coming down the corridor. She quickened her pace, curious as to what was going on. She peeked around the corner…

…and her jaw nearly dropped down to her knees. The room was packed with people – scientists and marines rubbing shoulders as they jostled for a better view, shouted encouragement to their favorite contender, and placed bets. Well, here was her chance to see who might win in a fight between Teal'c and Ronon. A couple of late comers pushed past her into the room, and she followed, carefully stepping around eagerly supportive spectators. As she made her way to the front for a better view (to make sure they weren't killing each other, of course) she ran into Chuck acting as bookie with his little palmtop at hand.

"Hey, Dr. Keller, care to place a bet?"

She declined graciously and he shrugged and moved onto the next person eagerly waving cash around. She dodged around a waving arm and ended up in the front right next to Colonel Sheppard. He was just as eagerly watching as the rest of them - like a little boy who got to stay up late to watch the game. He glanced over to see who'd come up beside him, and did a double take.

"Hey, doc, care to guess who might win this one?"

She glared at him for a moment then turned to watch as the two combatants circled each other in the center of the room. It was obvious they had been going at it for a while. Sweat and blood streamed down both of their faces, but neither was in the mood for a break. Ronon's lip was swollen and bloody and a gash on Teal'c's cheek was leaking blood. She actually took a moment to admire the way Ronon's sweat-slicked muscles bunched and moved so gracefully in action before she realized what she was doing.

Ten minutes later they were still bashing away at each other and Jennifer was getting a headache from all the noise. She slipped quietly away and stood for a moment in the relatively calm corridor, head down, fingers massaging her temples. It was a good thing she was still off duty otherwise she didn't think she'd be able to hold her tongue when Ronon showed up in her infirmary for treatment. She took a deep breath, looked up, and almost ran into Sam.

"What on earth is going on in there?"

"I believe Ronon and Teal'c decided to see who could win in a sparring match, and most of the base wanted in on the action. Er, the monetary action, anyway." She shrugged and lifted the corner of her lips in a half smile.

Carter looked past her, got a determined look in her narrowed blue eyes and marched right in. Jennifer shook her head, shrugged again, and went back to her quarters. She had a yoga DVD she could put on and stretch to. She had no doubt she would find out later what happened.

OOOooooOOO

The day after that she was back at work, glad of the distraction. After hearing that the Midway station had had a malfunction or some such issue, her stomach had not stopped churning in fear for Ronon. She kept trying to tell herself she didn't care that much, but nothing helped. It was obvious now he had come to mean a lot more to her than she'd at first thought.

She tried to plow into work, focused all her energy on research or backlogged paperwork. But every time she had a chance she was making her way down to the control tower, hoping for word on Ronon, or the team of Marines led by John and Rodney who went to investigate. It didn't help matters that she was getting very little sleep at night, making her irritable and grumpy. She was almost afraid to sleep due to the fact that it was becoming increasingly difficult to wake up. Her body and mind were lethargic, making it hard to think straight. She was also continually resisting the urge to just let go and retreat into her dream world for a while. Normally she avoided self-diagnosis, but the headaches and snappiness led her to think she might be in a mild form of withdrawal.

On the second day she received worrying news of another kind.

One of the planets they'd been trading with reported that they were trying to deal with a mysterious respiratory aliment that had already killed several folks. This would be the third planet within a month requesting aid for the same thing. Loading up on her traveling medical gear she also took along a disk with info from the other planets for comparison, hoping and yet not hoping it was the same thing. When her team of two nurses and Lorne's team were suited up, they packed up a jumper and took off.

After a grueling two days of taking lab samples and checking all the patients, Jennifer trekked back to Atlantis leaving her two assistants and Lorne's team to clean up. She wanted to start examining the samples and see if the idea she had might be on the right track. There was still no word from Midway, and even Colonel Carter was starting to get a little antsy.

After popping a couple of stimulants she got to work. Five hours later, she'd worked through all the samples from the current planet and pulled up the results from the others. It was all the same - a mysterious illness that started with respiratory problems followed fairly quickly by major organ shut down. She had a thought to check some of Carson's older research from the first year the expedition was there, but it was hard to get her body moving. Her eyelids drooped and she inhaled sharply, hoping fresh oxygen would get her going. The last thing she remembered was her unresponsive body slipping slowly from the stool.

_A/N – (evil cackle, rub hands together) I know - I left you with a cliffhanger. But…I am working on Chap 7 and will try_ _to get it up as soon as I can!_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N – Thanks for all the reviews so far. Really appreciate it. Here's an extra long chapter for you._

_To Jas-TheMaddTexan – I hope this dries your tears…but if it doesn't and you petition Bast to smite me mightily – I will sic Sekhmet on you!_

Chapter 7

Kaylee opened her eyes to the harsh light and cold metal walls of Serenity's sterile infirmary. She looked around slowly, noting that she was laying on one of the counters, Zoe was laying on her stomach on another, and Simon was on the bed, his torso bare except for the white bandage swathing his middle. A twinge in her neck brought the horrible memory back of the desperate and almost futile fight against the Reavers. She brought an unsteady hand up to her neck where the three puncture wounds were itching nearly unbearably.

After the Alliance soldiers had let them go, the crew had staggered and stumbled slowly back to the sorry remains of the ship, Inara, River, and Jayne supporting the others. Darkness blurring her vision, Kaylee couldn't help but groan at the state of the engines and drive pods. Upon landing, one of the pods had sheared away completely, leaving the other to cope with an overheating core. Blackened and fused metal told a sad story about the state of the engine itself. Before she could even think about seeing for herself, Jayne's strong arm tightened around her waist as she stumbled and fell. Darkness had closed in about her then, leaving only the sensation of being picked up and gently carried.

She did remember coming to as Inara had cleaned the wounds on her neck, but the pain had been so bad, unconsciousness had mercifully claimed her again. A sound in the corridor drew her attention.

"Hey, Cap'n!" Her voice was hoarse so she cleared her throat, wincing as the punctured muscles protested. "I would say you're a sight for sore eyes, but it looks like you're the one with the sore eye." She grinned slightly as Mal's hand went unconsciously to his left eye – now swollen completely shut. The rest of his face was a patchwork of black and purple and red, he limped as he walked in, and the way he held his body spoke of other, internal pain.

"Very funny, Kaylee. Sounds like you're ready to get back to work."

She sat up carefully but quickly. "Really? Can I?"

"No." He limped over to the open counter and pulled out a cooling pack. After carefully placing it over the left side of his face he turned back to glare at her.

"Please, Cap'n, Serenity needs me," she whined, giving him the puppy dogs eyes she knew he couldn't resist.

"And she don't need me, or Zoe, or…Wash?"

Kaylee instantly regretted her childishness. The emotional pain on his face and the harshness of his voice was almost more than she could bear. She certainly couldn't face the yawning grief yet, engendered by the loss of their pilot. The brought back other recent losses.

Mal turned away, ostensibly to see how Zoe was. Kaylee lay slowly back down, blinking back tears that ran down the sides of her cheeks to soak into the bandages around her neck. He left shortly afterwards, shoulders slumped, limp more pronounced.

Inara stopped by next after a short enough time that Kaylee suspected she'd run into Mal in the corridor. Her training in the Companion House included medical training, and she kept up a quiet trickle of inane chatter as she changed Kaylee's bandages. She checked on Simon and Zoe next, then came back to stand by the counter.

"How does your neck feel? Much pain?" Her quiet voice flowed like honey, soothing any lingering pain or grief momentarily.

Kaylee shook her head quickly. "It just itches a lot."

"That's probably a side effect of whatever disgusting Reaver poison was on those darts." She smiled calmly. "I cleaned it out as much as possible. A blood test showed there was none remaining in your body."

"Thank you." Kaylee turned her head to look at Simon's pale face. "How…how is he?"

Inara turned to look also. "We were able to get the bullet out with his help. I don't know how he put up with the pain. Right now he's just resting." She patted Kaylee's arm. "Don't worry, Kaylee. They'll both be fine."

She nodded, and Inara was distracted as River came floating into the room like a wisp of down on the wind. She went directly to Simon's side and stood statue still, looking down at his face.

After about a minute she looked up at the other two. "The mind is slow in returning. It is imminent though." Then she walked calmly out.

Kaylee and Inara shared wry smiles. After living with River and Simon for a while now, they were used to her behavior and odd way of communicating. A groan from Zoe and a murmur from Simon turned their attention to other things.

Two weeks later, after Serenity had been cleaned up and mostly put back together the crew came together at the top of a nearby mountain to pay their respects to the recently departed. Remembrance stones had been set up for Wash, Mr. Universe, and Shepherd Book.

The next day was a rainy, dreary day, and everyone was up early to prep for lift-off. In the time they'd been on the surface, neither the Alliance nor the Reavers had bothered them. With the system wide broadcast of the recording found on Miranda, Mal was sure the Alliance had their hands full. That gave them plenty of time to affect repairs and keep out of any political trouble.

Kaylee was in the engine room when they took off, making sure all the quick fixes they'd cobbled together were staying together. There was a little shaking during the initial thrust, but it all settled down when Serenity reached orbit. There was a clang on the outer hull, as if something metallic had hit, then glanced off. Her eyes wide, she looked down the corridor, almost expecting Mal to come tearing down the corridor yelling at her.

When he didn't, she made her way up to the bridge, confident the engines were doing just great. The sight that met her eyes was…astonishing, to say the least. When they'd been entering the planetary envelope of gas and magnetic energy, she'd been in the engine room giving the captain all she could get out of the engines, racing them just ahead of the pursuing Reavers. Now, she was fully amazed at the light show going on just outside the cockpit window.

"Wow! Shiny, Cap'n, ain't it?" Blue and white lit up the cabin like broad daylight and energy sparkled along the bottom edges of the gaseous clouds like lightning. A dark space about the size of one of the drive pods off to the right drew her attention. It was completely occluding the gas cloud behind it. Either that or it was a part of the cloud itself. "Hey, what's that?"

Mal turned around quickly when she started speaking, a tense expression on his face. "Kaylee, what're you doin' up here?" He turned back to face the pilots console. "Get back down to engine room, now. We may need everything she's got."

Kaylee exchanged a look with River, who'd also turned around. "Sure, Captain." She turned to go, her eyes still lingering on the mesmerizing light show.

"It is pulling us in. The attraction is hard to resist." For River that was downright normal. "We don't know what it is." She smiled serenely from her seat behind the co-pilot's

Kaylee nodded questioningly. "Oh, okay. I'll get right down there."

At that moment Serenity entered the cloud and one of the drive pods touched, or entered, or was drawn into, the dark space. A vicious tug of war ensued as Mal tried to keep the ship in a straight line, while the incredible forces of the dark "hole" fought to keep it otherwise. The ship lurched and bucked, and as Kaylee lost her footing and fell to her hands and knees, she heard an unholy screeching and rending sound as Mal lost control of the ship.

Suddenly everything went black.

OOOooooOOO

Jennifer opened her eyes, drew in a deep lungful of oxygen and sat straight up. As she blinked blurry eyes, she registered a couple of things. One was that she was in scrubs, on a bed in her infirmary hooked up to several monitors and an I.V. drip. The heart monitor was frantically beeping in time to her racing heart. The second thing she noticed was that both Ronon and Dr. Rhodes were right in front of her, peering at her in abject concern.

"Hey, hey, take it easy." Ronon laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Just relax."

Dr. Rhodes nodded in concurrence. Her dark skinned face was suffused with both relief and anxiety as she checked the rest of the monitors, pushing Ronon out of the way unceremoniously when he blocked her view. As Jennifer calmed somewhat the heart monitor subsided back down to a more rhythmic and even beat. She lay back on the bed, and looked up at the ceiling as her mind tried to take in what had just happened.

But before she could even begin to assimilate what had happened, Ronon was bending over her a worried look on his face. "You okay?"

She closed her eyes a moment, wondering where to even begin, and wondering how she'd gotten here. She heard the monitor speed up slightly as her heart rated increased.

"Jennifer?" That was Rodney's voice, coming from behind Ronon. She hadn't even realized he was in the room.

Jennifer opened her eyes in time to see Dr. Rhodes inject something into the I.V. She figured it was a sedative; it's what she herself would do. That was fine with her - she needed more time to come to grips with the fact that she'd just experienced what could only be described as a total out-of-body experience. The dream, well, she really couldn't call it a dream when she had felt and smelled and seen and thought as Kaylee. It had been so real, so gritty – there had been no wonderings if it was real, even sub-consciously. She'd known it to be her only existence, her real life.

She looked around the room again. Along with Rodney, John and Colonel Carter were waiting off to the side. Her muscles relaxed slowly but noticeably as the drug made its way into her bloodstream.

"Hey, what happened?" She smiled slightly. Already it was difficult to force even that action, and her voice sounded very unlike her normal self – thready and soft. "The last thing I remember was looking at some of Carson's old research."

Rodney clutched his datapad closer to his torso and shot a look at Ronon before answering. "Uh, I found you unconscious on the floor in your lab." He shifted uncomfortably. "I was, uh, wanting to see if you wanted to get that drink we talked about earlier." Yep, he was definitely edging away from Ronon.

If she wasn't so relaxed, she would have smiled.

"You've been in a coma-like state for almost four days." Dr. Rhodes had that super-concerned look on her face again. "Nothing came up on the scans except for abnormally high brain activity in the delta lobe." She consulted the readout on the terminal nearest her. "Almost like you were in an extended dream state. Do you remember anything?"

"Mmmh," was all she could get out. She really should be more concerned about the fact she had been out for a full four days. Her eyes drifted closed, and suddenly she realized she might be taken away again into that other world. She struggled to remain conscious, but the walls of the room faded away to gray.

When she woke up several hours later, Jennifer was relieved to be able to think clearly and to be able to recall that she had definitely not returned to that other reality. The infirmary was quiet, the late night quiet that she had come to enjoy when she took that shift every now and again. A soft snore turned her attention to the left.

She smiled gently as she saw Ronon slouched in the chair by the bed, fast asleep. Several locks of hair had fallen across his face but what she could see looked young and relaxed in sleep, far from the almost anger that had been his normal expression of late. She wanted to reach out and caress his cheek but for one she couldn't reach and for the other she didn't want to wake him.

Soft footsteps sounded in the corridor outside, and she looked toward the door, wondering who could be coming at this hour. Surprise had her sitting up straight when Rodney walked carefully in. He stopped abruptly when he saw she was sitting up, awake.

"Oh, hey. I didn't expect you to be awake." He looked around uncomfortably, and focused on Ronon. "Is he asleep?" he whispered.

She nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I think so. It's safe to come over." She also whispered, although she had noticed Ronon's breathing change slightly, and his snoring had stopped a minute before. He still continued to act asleep though.

Rodney glared at her a moment before coming over to the other side of the bed. "So, how are you? Feeling better, are you?" His hand nervously twiddled with the top of his datapad.

"Yeah, I am. Don't have a headache, any pain from falling is kind of smothered right now, and I'm awake."

"Yes, awake is good." He looked away, and there was silence between them for a moment. He still fiddled with the rubber strap on top of his computer, folding it in half one way then back the other. Jennifer didn't think he was aware of what he as doing.

"Hey, you know the sub-space anomaly we've been tracking?" He continued almost before she'd finished nodding, a questioning look on her face at the abrupt change in topic. "Well, there's an intriguing energy signature coming through now, almost like someone's trying to communicate."

When he didn't add anything more to that statement she asked, "So, who or what is doing that?"

"I don't know yet." And Rodney was silent again only this time there was a quiet squeaking coming from the handle he was still manipulating.

The moment stretched into a minute and Jennifer looked down at her hands. They were laying one on top of the other, resting on her lap. The right was home to several needle pricks as well as the current I.V. port. She glanced at Ronon quickly and had to press her lips together to keep from smiling as he subtly winked at her from his recumbent position in the chair.

A sudden beeping had her turning her attention back to Rodney.

"Oh, this is new," he mumbled as he typed in a command. "Oh, no…don't tell me…" His voice trailed off and Jennifer sensed Ronon sit up straight all pretense gone. "Uh, I gotta go." And he was out the door before a protest could make it beyond her lips.

As Jennifer sat back against the angled bed, her eyes met Ronon's. The expression in his eyes was a mix of tenderness and embarrassment. "Have you been there all night?"

He nodded and looked down, a sheepish look coming over his features. He cleared his throat. "Well, I, uh…"

A page over the intercom interrupted him. "Colonel Carter, Colonel Sheppard, and Dr. Zelenka to the control tower please." The normal dulcet tones of the dogwatch technician were a bit strained.

Ronon stood. "I'd better see what's up."

"Ronon, wait. It's probably a scientific problem, nothing they can't handle…" She trailed off realizing she was speaking to an empty room. Well, not so empty. The night nurse had come in as the large Satedan brushed past her. She looked over her shoulder as she kept walking, and nearly ran into Jennifer's bed.

Instinct compelled Jennifer to suddenly push back the covers of the bed and disconnect the I.V.

"Dr. Keller, what are you doing?" The nurse was clearly horrified, but being as Jennifer was her boss, she was at a loss as to what to do.

"Going down to the control tower." She swung her legs over the edge of the bed glad there was a pair of slippers waiting for her feet. She had not been looking forward to walking on cold flooring with bare feet. "I need to know what's going on."

"But…" The rest of the sentence was out of earshot as Jennifer nearly ran on slightly unsteady legs out the door.

There was an unusual amount of activity in the city for as late as it was. She kind of wished she'd thought this through, because now she wanted a little more coverage than the thin white scrubs provided. Goosebumps rose in waves on her arms as she also realized how chilly it was.

That was forgotten as carefully walked down the stairs leading to the control tower. The activity was centered here, and she didn't want Sam or John, or even Ronon for that matter, to see her and send her back to the infirmary. Rodney probably wouldn't even notice. Something told her that this midnight crisis had something to do with her, would affect her somehow. Voices reached her, crouched on the last landing, clear and distinct.

"Well, obviously, Radek, or we wouldn't have even known about it." That was definitely Rodney at his condescending best.

"Rodney, please. Tell us again what you saw the sensors pick up." Sam, speaking calmly and concisely.

"Or thought you saw."

Jennifer could just picture Rodney's look of pure loathing aimed at John for his trademark sarcasm.

"Yes, yes, the mad scientist making up fictional scenarios. Look, the sensors clearly read some sort of radiation or energy coming through. It's stopped now, but the anomaly is getting larger by the moment, large enough to swallow a ship the size of the Daedalus." He paused dramatically. "Or spit something through to our side. Something big."

Jennifer, remembering the other reality she'd been in before she woke up in the infirmary, suddenly became dizzy. She grasped the railing in an attempt to keep herself upright as she made a startling connection.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N – So sorry that it took so long to get the rest of this up. That'll teach me to finish a story before posting! :-) Anyway, thanks for all the awesome reviews. I'm glad you like it so far._

Chapter 8

Alarms blared down in the control tower, startling Jennifer out of her fugue state. She'd been gripping the handrail hard for a good couple of minutes, and as she loosened her hand, momentary pain shot through the tendons and bones. A red ridge down the middle of her palm spoke of the intense hold she'd had on the railing. The dizziness had passed, leaving a slight lightheadedness, but she ignored that in favor of finding out what was alarming the city sensors.

What is it, Rodney?" Sam asked, unease underlying the casual question.

"Um, yeah, I was right." There was a moment of silence, and Jennifer hurried down the stairs, not caring that one of them might send her away.

She came around the corner in time to see the three of them – Sam, John, and Rodney – all leaning over one of the consoles. Ronon was leaning up against one of the windows that looked down on the gateroom. The large display to the left was blaring information in Ancient script, red warning symbols flashing along the bottom.

Rodney straightened up and turned to face Sam. "See, there's something coming through." He pointed down at the computer. Then he turned to Chuck. "Can you turn that off? Really annoying."

Chuck obliged and there was a relatively calm moment after the alarm shut off.

"So what, exactly is it?" John tapped a couple of keys on the keyboard.

Rodney swatted his hand away. "I don't know. If you move, I will tell you."

"Fine, I'm moving."

"Gentlemen, can we concentrate, please?" Sam ran a hand through her bangs in frustration.

Both of them shot her a look. Rodney went back to the computer. "It looks like a ship." He held up a hand to forestall John's next question. "I can't tell what ship, or what kind yet, it's not all the way though, but from what the sensors can tell, it's pretty beat up. It's also emitting on a frequency that I've never seen before. Almost on the VHF band, but not quite." He was silent for a moment, thinking. "I'll see what I can do to resolve the differences." He moved quickly to another computer, ousting Chuck from his usual seat.

"Okay, so it's a ship." John turned to Sam. "Do they know we're here? Are they coming here, or what?"

"Well, the fact that they are broadcasting some sort of signal tells me they…"

"Ahha, got it!" Rodney straightened up. "It's a distress call." He typed in a command on his tablet. "It's pretty garbled but I should be able to clean it up. Enough to understand, anyway."

"From who?"

"Still wondering that myself, Mr. 'you think I know everything!'" He hit a button on the keypad and a static-filled image came up on the screen to the left. "There," he said with some pride, "this ought to do. Now," and he turned to John, a sneer on his face, "now we can find out who and what this is."

The static cleared briefly to reveal the face of a man with a definitely worried look. "This…Captain…Fire…ss…Serenity…questing aid, please…spond." The image was still grainy and static cut out most of the words, making it difficult to decipher the message. Jennifer, in her position out of the way, knew though.

The message repeated just as Rodney did something else to clean up the static. The image also resolved more to reveal a man appearing to be on the verge of collapse, face dirty and tense, eyes showing a need for some sort of connection. "This is Captain Malcom Reynolds of the Firefly class transport ship Serenity. We are requesting aid, please respond."

Sam, John, and Rodney all exchanged blank looks. John turned and jerked his head at Ronon in a "come here" gesture.

As Ronon pushed off the window and ambled over, another sensor started beeping.

"Uh, Dr. McKay – a ship just came through the anomaly." Chuck consulted his terminal before adding, "It's heading straight for the planet."

The repeating distress call on the screen moved to the background as a picture of the ship was sent to the display. John looked at Ronon. "Look familiar?" He received a negative shake of the head in reply. So he turned to Sam with a questioning look.

She in turn looked at Rodney. "Can you open a channel to them from this end?" She turned back to the screen and pursed her lips. "We'd better find out what they want before they land on our doorstep."

"Sure." Rodney typed in a command on his datapad. "Okay, you're good to go."

"Transport ship Serenity, we read your distress call. This is Colonel Samantha Carter of Atlantis base. What is the nature of your emergency?"

Relief was visible on the face of the captain. "Oh thank God, we weren't sure there was anyone down there." He ran a hand over his lips. "Uh, we're having engine trouble. We ran into some sort of wormhole that seems to have taken us from where we were. There was some kind of energy discharge that played havoc with our electrical and nav system, creating all kinds of problems."

"Yes, subspace anomaly," Rodney inserted with his usual lack of tact.

"Rodney," John hissed.

The other man stared at Rodney for a moment, face completely blank. "You have a name for it. Well, that's…good, I s'pose. Anyway, we'd be grateful if you'd be able to lend us a parking spot while we get Serenity back in working order." He looked off to the side for a moment. "My engineer tells me it shouldn't take long, just enough patches to get us off the ground and keep us in the air. That whatchamacallit really shook us up."

"We would like to help you out, but before we do that, Captain Reynolds, we need certain assurances that you are friendly and not working for certain elements in this galaxy." Sam had her arms crossed over her chest, and her stance was firm.

The captain had a dumbfounded look on his face. His mouth opened and shut before he could think of anything to say. Jennifer really felt for him but she completely understood Colonel Carter's position. From Sam's point of view anyone and everyone could be a Wraith worshipper or a spy for the Genii, or a…

"What kind of assurances are you looking for? That we aren't Reavers?" He gave a snort of laughter, although the look on Mal's face was anything but amused. "Surely you could tell by scanning my ship and this here civilized conversation we're having."

John, Sam, and Rodney exchanged a perplexed look. John spoke up. "Well, more along the lines that you aren't Wraith worshippers, Asurans, or Genii."

"Or working for Michael," Rodney added _sotto voce_.

"That we aren't what?" The look on Mal's face was definitely blank and guileless. It was obvious he had no clue to what they were referring.

The three standing in front of the screen looked at each other again, this time to confirm what the others thought - the captain didn't know what they were talking about.

Chuck tapped Rodney on the shoulder. "Dr. McKay, I've been tracking the ship. They are on a course for us, but their descent trajectory is too steep as well as slightly erratic and its speed is far too fast at this point for a safe landing."

As he was speaking, Rodney moved to the work station, Chuck following, and double checked the readings again. He straightened up, announcing in usual McKay doomsday style, "We have a problem."

Sam and John turned toward him, eyebrows raised. On screen, the captain was speaking off mike to someone outside of the frame, gesturing anxiously. There was a shivering along the edges of the still grainy image suggesting serious shaking on the other side.

"He's right." Rodney noticed the eye-rolling said technician was giving him, but ignored it. "If they aren't able to pull up a little and slow down, they'll hit the water like a ton of bricks, never mind actually landing nicely on the East Pier. There is a danger of some structural damage in either scenario."

"So what do we do?" Sam turned back to the screen. "Or rather what do they do? I'm inclined to let them land, if only out of curiosity of where they come from and what contacts they have."

Captain Reynolds turned back to them, face red and apprehensive. "I'm sure you've noticed that we're a little off course here. We're trying to correct it, and Kaylee's working on the engines to slow us down some." He listened to someone off-screen again. "Try the emergency booster then." There was a brief pause. "Gorram it, Jayne, I don't have time for this. Get your ass down to the engine room and help Kaylee then. Get out of Zoe's way." He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up.

"I think I've got a way to sync their nav system through Atlantis's controls." Rodney came up between John and Sam. "I've been taking a look at their operating system," and he held up his tablet, "trying to find a way to match our to theirs or vise versa. It's very oddly configured, but I think I've got it. That way we can guide them down, kind of like a remote tractor beam."

Sam stared at him for a moment. "Well, do it, then." When Rodney left, she rolled her eyes at John. "I wish he would just do it without all the talk sometimes."

"Yeah, me too," John answered.

Sam addressed the screen. "Captain Reynolds, we are going to sync with your nav system and guide your ship down from here. You will need to slow down your ship, however, enough to safely land on our East Pier."

"We know, and are working on it. I'm grateful that you'll let us land."

"Please understand that there will be security measures, and I hope you don't take it personally. It's very rare that we let anyone in Atlantis anymore." She glanced at John before continuing. "As soon as you're in the atmosphere and on a steady course for us, we'll be providing a jumper escort."

John nodded agreement.

"Completely understand, Colonel. I need to get to my engine room and help out, but I'll keep the channel open. Thanks again."

Sam turned away from the screen as Mal left the camera. "Have Lorne get his team in a couple of jumpers. I want to make sure that ship stays on course."

John nodded, already turning away. "I'll go, too."

"No, John, I need you here, when they land. Organize security teams for the time they are here, watchful but not obviously so."

Ronon straightened up from his slouch. "I can help with that, too."

"I think she just said 'not obvious,' big guy." John grinned and pummeled him on the shoulder. "You can be on the welcoming committee, though." He turned away to the stairs then looked back. "Don't forget to wear that big sword of yours." Then he was bounding out of sight in search of Major Lorne.

"I'm going, too!" Nearly every eye in the control tower turned to Jennifer as she stepped out of the shadows, arms crossed defiantly across her chest. "I want to be there when you meet the crew of Serenity."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

There was a brief moment of silence as Sam and Ronon took in Jennifer's defensive stance and unsuitable dress. Rodney wasn't even paying attention, his whole focus was on setting up a macro as quickly as possible to guide Serenity in to land.

"Dr. Keller, what are you doing out of the infirmary? What's wrong? You don't look well." A concerned look on her face, Sam reached out a hand to steady her.

Jennifer brushed off the help and stood straighter. "I'm fine, nothing's wrong. I just need to be here, is all."

"What you need is to go back to the infirmary." Ronon moved forward, his intent clear.

She backed up a step, her shoulders hitting one of the rear consoles. "No, Ronon, let me be. I need to be here." She focused back on Sam, pleading in her face and eyes. "Colonel Carter, please let me accompany you to the East Pier. I need to meet the crew of the Serenity."

"Why?" A perplexed look crossed Sam's face, as well as concern at the beseeching tone.

"I…I can't tell you right now," and she held up a hand to forestall any protest from Ronon or Sam. "But, I assure you I will tell you everything after." She looked from one to the other, searching for understanding, urging them to accept her explanation. "Please."

"I'd let her," Rodney said quietly from his hunched over position at his computer. "Something's been happening with her lately, and I think it has to do with this."

"Rodn…what?" Amazement colored her voice as Sam looked searchingly at Jennifer. "You have a…connection with all this?"

"I will explain later, I promise. I just can't right now, not and still have it make sense."

Rodney stood and clapped his hands together. "All right, I've got it. Just need to hit enter to make it happen."

"Are you sure?" Sam turned to him. "Is their speed slow enough now for this to work?"

"Yep, and close enough, so if we don't do this now, we won't get their course corrected in time."

"Okay, do it."

Rodney gleefully hit the right button as Carter went to the communications screen to inform Captain Reynolds. Ronon, in the meantime, had slowly approached Jennifer.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded, holding his eyes with her own. "Yes, I am. I need to do this."

He finally nodded acquiescence. "You're cold." He held out his arm in invitation, and she gratefully and without hesitation, accepted. Her shivering abated instantly as his strong arms curled around her, warming her.

OOOooooOOO

Half an hour later a small group consisting of Jennifer, Ronon, Sam, John, and Rodney walked out onto the East Pier. The ship, Serenity, had settled to its extended landing struts, steam still billowing from the rear, hot metal popping as it cooled.

"I can't believe that thing actually flies." Rodney eyed the ship in distain, traveling over the scarred, pitted, scorched, and rusted hull.

"Sometimes it takes a little love to get past the outer surface, Rodney," Jennifer replied quietly. She stood as close to Ronon as she could, the chill wind of the ocean cutting through the coat Ronon had lent her. It was way too big, the cuffs hanging almost to her knees and the bottom brushed her ankles. But it smelled like him, comforting her, and was much warmer than the scrubs alone.

John was on the other side of her, making her feel small and vulnerable yet still protected, standing between the two men. Sam stood on the other side of John, followed by Rodney. They approached the ship steadily without rushing. When they were within a few feet, the cargo bay doors groaned open, followed by an outrushing of musty air exchanging for clean, pure planetary air.

Four figures came out of the shadows into the bright sunlight, walking slowly down the ramp. The man facing Sam was tall with brown hair, dressed in a long brown coat, tall leather boots and his hands were at his waist, pushing back the coat to reveal a holster strapped to his right thigh. His eyes were clear and direct, frankly assessing the group facing him.

The woman opposite John was also tall, with long curly black hair. A tan top and black pants outlined her striking figure. Her chin was lifted, eyes straight ahead, lips firm. Her strong face was a neutral mask, but Jennifer knew the pain and grief it hid.

The man facing Rodney was shorter than the others, but not by much. His dark hair waved back from his face revealing intense blue eyes. Those eyes roamed all over, taking in everything and everyone. A look of pleasure lit his face at the soaring towers and unique architecture of the city behind them. Jennifer understood now why Kaylee was attracted to him.

The guy opposite her and Ronon had a suspicious expression on his face as he surveyed the Lanteans. He was tall and fair enough to look at, but Jennifer knew he pretty much had the intellect and manners of a caveman. His hand caressed the butt of his sidearm, in much the same manner as Ronon was doing. The two eyed each other, looking each other up and down, judging the others strength and possible aptitude in combat.

Jennifer rolled her eyes as she nudged Ronon unsubtly. He glanced at her briefly and relaxed his grip on the still holstered gun. He flexed his shoulders slowly, making the large sword sheathed at his back move slightly from side to side, calling attention to it, making the sun glance off the bright metal. She heaved a silent sigh.

"Hi," the captain called brightly. "I must thank you nice folks again for lending us a hand. Without that assist, I think we'd be breathing water right now." He stepped forward. "I'm Captain Reynolds, this here is my first mate, Zoe. On the other side of her is Jayne, and to my right is our good doctor, Simon Tam."

Zoe nodded, Simon smiled sweetly, and Jayne raised an eyebrow.

Sam stepped forward. "Captain, I'm Colonel Carter, the leader of this facility. The head of the military contingent, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, head of our science department, Dr. Rodney McKay, and on the other side of John is our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jennifer Keller and Specialist Ronon Dex."

Rodney gave a sarcastic wave and a tight smile, John nodded with a small smile turning up the corners of his lips, and Ronon raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, how come she looks like Kaylee?" Jayne was frowning at Jennifer now. Ronon took a step forward, hand grasping his sidearm.

"What? Who looks like me?" A petite figure suddenly pushed between Jayne and Zoe. "Am I late?"

There she was, right in front of her - the woman whose life Jennifer had been dreaming of lately. Kaylee Winnit Fry. They stared at each other. Kaylee's hair was a little darker and shorter, and she had a smudge of grease on her nose, but other than that…they were identical.

Suddenly it was hard to breathe. Dark spots flashed before Jennifer's eyes as she felt her body start to fall. Noise filled her ears in a roar, and she reached out a hand to grab Ronon for support. The other's weren't even looking at her, were talking to each other casually as if she weren't even there. Her hand reached Ronon's arm…and passed right through it. The scene started spinning, faster and faster until she closed her eyes to shut out the maddening spiral.

OOOooooOOO

The first thing Jennifer was aware of was a gentle, repetitive susurrus against her arm. The next was that she was lying on her back on a soft surface. Cool sheets brushed against her bare feet. A rhythmic beep kept time to her slow heartbeat, and soft sounds further away told of quiet industry.

She opened her eyes with an effort, blinking them several times to clear out the fog of sleep. The repetitive stroking of her arm stopped and a voice called quietly, "She's awake." She turned her head as two figures joined the third by her bedside.

"How do you feel?" Dr. Rhodes began checking the monitors and her vitals.

She had to wet her mouth before trying to speak. "Um," and she paused. Her voice rasped uncomfortably, and her throat was raw. She felt groggy and limp, unable to even move.

"That's okay, take it easy, Dr. Keller. You've been in a coma for several days."

That woke her up more. "What?" She looked around at the others. Sam gazed at her in concern and Ronon…well, she really couldn't even begin to put a name to the expression on his face, but there was caring and maybe fear there. "What happened?"

"Rodney found you collapsed in your lab after a two day stint on M5X-882. You were running a high fever and had back-to-back mild seizures. Shortly after you went into a coma."

Jennifer stared at Sam incredulously.

"Everything looks good now," she was assured, "but I want to run some more tests to make sure you're out of the woods. I will do that later, once you've had time to adjust, and I'm sure the fever won't come back. It will take a few days before your body is stronger." Dr. Rhodes glanced at another monitor, then back to Sam. "I think we should leave her to rest."

Sam nodded and grasped Jennifer's hand where it lay limply on the bed by her side. She squeezed gently and let go. After an encouraging smile, she left with Dr. Rhodes. Ronon also turned to go.

"Ronon, wait."

He turned back, and she reached up a hand for him. He grabbed it and held on tight, telling her how much he'd worried. She tugged him closer and he moved to sit in the chair right by the head of the bed.

"Have you been here the entire time?" She smiled softly at him, taking in his wonderful hair and tattoos and wildly unconformitive outfit.

"Only the last couple of days. That's when the Deadalus got back from Earth. We had to stop and rescue Sheppard and McKay from the Midway spot."

She frowned, struggling fit that information into what she remembered. "Wait, how long have I been out?"

"Uh, I think about five days."

Something didn't add up. "When did the ship leave?"

"What ship?"

"Serenity. When did they leave?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her and shook his head. "There's no ship with that name." He paused. "Are you all right?"

She took a moment to process the memories that surfaced. It would take her a while to sort though the mess that was in her head right then.

"Jennifer?" He sat up straighter, concern on his face. "Hey, should I call Dr. Rhodes?"

"No, no," she assured him. "I'll be fine. I…I just had the strangest dream, though."

_fin_

_End Note - Hahahaha! Gotcha! :-)_

_Seriously, thanks for reading and if you reviewed, thanks doubly so! I hope you enjoyed it as I had a lot of fun writing this._


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